5
NORTHERN NEWS, FEBRUARY 13, 2013
LETTERS
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CHOOSE
BLUE!
Whose harbour?
Westpac Mussels have
recently secured permission
to go ahead with their large
mussel farm outside of
Whangaroa Heads at
Stevenson Island.
The Northland Regional
Council and commissioners
are hearing submissions
some time in April in regards
to the four hectare kingfish
farm, along with the 20
hectares of oysters and other
experimental shellfish which
will both be farmed using
horizontal longlines.
This farm is proposed for
inside Whangaroa Harbour.
Should this proposal get
approval most of the Kaeo
and Whangaroa community
will be very unhappy.
Bryce Smith, the
environmentalist for the
local maraes, said that the
iwi do not want additional
fishfarms in this harbour.
They are rightfully
concerned about oysters
being depurinated in the
deep water or even being
grown in deep water.
Beaches in all of
Whangaroa Harbour are
likely to end up covered in
oysters and the days of
children walking on the
beach with bare feet will be
well gone in the future.
We read articles in the
aquaculture journals
speaking of Northland s
pristine coastal waters being
available for New Zealand to
catch up with the rest of the
world in fish farming.
Please! Who writes these
articles? Those countries are
unlikely to have places as
beautiful and relatively
untouched as Whangaroa
Harbour is. Do we really
want to catch up with fish
farm disasters all over the
world?
If these questionable fish
farming practices must be
pursued then at least they
should be located in areas
where when the inevitable
contamination takes place
the damage will be less
disastrous. In the case of
Whangaroa Harbour there
will be no coming back from
the damage.
So for the sake of ruining
this unique jewel of a
harbour, our council prefer a
one-off, squeezed-in, half-pie
fish farm which, according to
the fish farm s owners, is
unlikely to create any extra
jobs locally. In my opinion it
is more likely to destroy the
ecological balance of
Whangaroa Harbour, along
with the environmental and
aesthetic damage.
The council and individual
applicants should not have
the right to take large areas
of it for their own financial
gain and the convenience of
nature s existing beautiful
harbour.
G Goodman
Auckland
-- Abridged
More magazines
I have just written to the Far
North District Council
Library Service bemoaning
the loss of magazine
availability.
Iamnotsureif
subscribers to the libraries
are aware of the
announcement just before
Christmas that this service
is to be dropped.
We all acknowledge that
the national economic
situation affects libraries
and their services. But it
also makes them more
important for all those who
want, and need, the reading
material they provide.
We certainly did not
appreciate the extended
closure of libraries during
the Christmas-New Year
holiday period.
The Kaikohe branch offers
an especially wonderful
service, and we would hate
to see the enthusiasm and
helpfulness of the staff
discouraged.
Ann Cull
Okaihau
Council speak
Many in our communities
have been disappointed by
the lack of care the Far
North District Council, a
council now heavily in debt,
has shown towards them and
their legitimate concerns.
So to encourage those who
give up and accept the
council s antics I propose the
following hints:
When discussing
particulars with a council
officer demand in writing
(emails are satisfactory) a
summary of the points
discussed, intended actions
agreed upon and anything
else that may be of
relevance. Or ask to record
on audio of any
conversations, meetings.
Keep a paper trail for your
own safety. If it becomes a
legal matter you will need
this! Having this will make
it risky for the council to
brush you off.
Keep a timeline of events
(ie, people spoken to,
outcomes arranged, times
officers say they will get
back to you, that type of
thing).
Once the date given in
hint 2 elapses (and it often
will) phone them up so they
know you want that
promised reply.
If hint 3 does not help
despite your efforts then
lodge a Request for Service
(RFS). An RFS does have
some small impact on the
process as it means the
monitoring team of the
council then brings your
matter yet again to the
attention of the busy elusive
officer you are trying to
interact with. It won t ensure
you get to speak to him/her
that week but will improve
your chances.
Council officers are not
above making up their own
interpretations of the New
Zealand Law I have
experienced. If this occurs
ask of them which Legal Act
and section thereof they
have cited this from -- the
conversation may then
change direction altogether,
and one realises the busy
officer seems uncomfortable
and experiences amnesia-
like symptoms.
If it really matters then
hop on the internet and use
Google to search through
relevant New Zealand
legislation pertaining to your
situation. This may be quite
time-consuming (the lovely
volunteers at the Kaitaia
People s Centre or the
community house or other
such institution may be able
to help you with this). When
you find the relevant act and
section of the NZ law then
you are armed and ready for
action.
If after going that far you
are still not getting the
service don t give up.
Many other options still
remain:
-- Write to mayor Wayne
Brown directly and ask for
his feedback on the matter.
-- Try the community board
members for ideas and
assistance.
-- Approach your local
Member of Parliament.
-- Take the council to the
Disputes Tribunal and make
them pay financially for
their inaction or faulty/
incorrect processes.
-- Present your case to the
ombudsman, who can then
investigate and correct or
instigate the correct
remedial measures.
-- Write to the local or even
national media.
In summary do not get
upset at being poorly treated
by this organisation, do not
abuse the poor frontline
receptionist staff. Direct
your energy at the officers
responsible and their
management, and even the
mayor himself, even though
he seems without a
conscience. I think it s
important to let him know
what we think of the council
as it stands under his
leadership.
Alex Harbuz
-- Abridged
Far North District
Council responds: The
council introduced a
customer services charter
last year so ratepayers and
customers would know what
standard of service they are
entitled to receive when
dealing with staff.
The charter requires staff
to be helpful, business-like,
honest and well-informed.
It also sets target times for
staff to respond to customer
inquiries and outlines
complaint, suggestion and
compliment procedures.
Copies of the charter are
available at council service
centres.
Council effective
GE Free Northland would
like to express its gratitude
to all Northland District
Councils and the Auckland
Council for their
collaborative and innovative
work on behalf of their
constituents, to create an
additional tier of protection
against Genetically Modified
Organisms in the face of
central government inaction.
The failure of central
government to provide a
truly strict liability regime
and an actual requirement
(under the Hazardous
Substances and New
Organisms Act) for the
national regulator to take a
precautionary approach to
GMOs is unacceptable.
Therefore we applaud the
councils of the North acting
on their duty of care to the
farmers of the region (and
other ratepayers) against
uninsurable GE activities,
putting our existing non GM
primary producers,
biosecurity, and the
environment first.
We welcome the
recommendations of the
Inter Council Working Party
on GMOs. We urge the
councils of the North to know
them, with local regulation
(or outright prohibition) of
GMOs in District, Regional
and the Auckland Unitary
Plan.
As the NRC-adopted Long
Term Council Community
Plan 2004/14 and 2006/16
says: The Regional Council
is a member of a Northland
inter-council working group
to discuss a common
approach to the management
of genetically modified
organisms in Northland.
Until this group has
completed its work, the
council has decided to adopt
a precautionary approach.
This means that there
should be no further
development and field
testing of transgenic
organisms envisaged for
agriculture, horticulture and
forestry in Northland, nor
any commercial release,
until the risk potential has
been adequately identified
and evaluated and a strict
liability regime put in place.
We want to see similar
prohibitive language in the
NRC new Regional Policy
Statement or, at the very
least, a strong precautionary
GE provision and the GE
issue identified as an Issue
of Significance for
Northland.
Finally, our thanks to all
the Northlanders (including
our district councils) who
made about 350 strong
submissions to the NRC
proposed RPS, opposing all
GMO land use and GMO
aquaculture in our region.
Zelka Grammer
GE Free Northland